Agstafa

Azerbaijani railway town near the Georgian border, founded where routes from Baku once split north and west.

Small provincial town located near the Georgian and Armenian borders, Agstafa was founded in 1914 as Elisavetinka, mainly as a railway junction. In Agstafa the railway coming from Baku splits in two: one going north to Tblisi via Rustavi and another going east to Yerevan via Qazax and Dilizhan. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the conflict with Armenia made Agstafa's role less important, as the rail and road connections to Armenia have been closed. The Armenian border is naturally also closed but you can cross to Georgia at Krasny Most. Krasny Most is Russian for 'Red Bridge', after the existing and still operating 12th century masonry bridge. The old bridge has been replaced in 1998 as the main crossing by the TRACECA bridge.

The European Union TRACECA programme aiming at improving transportation links in the Caucausus has been improving connections in the area, but only after a permanent solution is found for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict can links to Armenia be re-established.

These days Agstafa is a rather quiet town. In the centre you'll find the pleasant Vurgun park, with a decent variety of restaurants and tea places and a cinema.

You can take an overnight train to Baku, the bus to Baku or the mini bus to Qazax. There is a small but rather comfortable hotel near the station, on 20th January street.

In another reminiscent of Stalinist borders, just west of Agstafa Azerbaijan has two very small exclaves within Armenian territory which are now under Armenian control (Yukhari Askipara and Barkhudali), the same happening with a bit of Azerbaijan proper, the territory around Askipara. As 'compensation' in August 1992 the Azeri army took the tiny Armenian exclave of Artsvashen, situated inside Azerbaijan, south-west of Shamkir.

(380 km north west of Baku)

Guide

Getting There

Agstafa is on the main Baku–Tbilisi rail line and the parallel M2 highway. The overnight train from Baku is the most comfortable option, leaving in the evening and arriving the next morning; daytime trains and buses to and from Baku also run. Marshrutkas (shared minibuses) run regularly to Qazax and Ganja.

If you are entering or leaving Azerbaijan, the Red Bridge crossing on the Georgian border is about 40 km north-west. Onward marshrutkas run from Agstafa station to the crossing and from there to Marneuli and Tbilisi on the Georgian side.

Guide

Things to Do

Agstafa is not a sightseeing destination. The pleasures here are small — a walk around Samad Vurgun park in the centre, a cup of tea in one of the çayxana on the main street, a look at the railway station that was the whole reason the town exists. The one real out-of-town target is the Red Bridge border area, both for the 17th-century brick arch and because it is the gateway in or out of Azerbaijan if you are heading for Tbilisi.